Fiction > Book editions > New York, 1885 - Dynamiter

THE SQUIRE OF DAMES. 25
said, " for one lialf hour, let me forget ; " and
sure enough, with the very word, her sorrows
appeared to be forgotten. Before every house
she paused, invented a name for the x)roprietor,
and sketched his character : here lived the old
general whom she was to marry on the fifth of
the next month, there was the mansion of the
rich widow who had set her heart on Challoner ;
and though she still hung wearily on the young
man's arm, her laughter sounded low and
pleasant in his ears. ' ' Ah, ' ' she sighed, by way
of commentary, ' ' in such a life as mine I must
seize tight hold of any happiness that I can
find.''
When they arrived, in this leisurely manner,
at the head of Grosvenor Place, the gates of
the park were opening and the bedraggled
company of night-walkers were being at last
admitted into that paradise of lawns. Challoner
and his companion f ollovred the movement, and
walked for awhile in silence in that tatterde-
malion crowd ; but as one after another, weary
mth the night' s patrolling of the city jpavement,
sank upon the benches or wandered into sepa-
rate paths, the vast extent of the park had soon
utterly swallowed up the last of these intruders;
and the pair proceeded on their way alone in
the grateful quiet of the morning.
Presently they came in sight of a bench,
standing very open on a mound of turf. The
young lady looked about her with relief.